Congressional Democrats launch investigation into...

1of2Representative Elijah Cummings, a Democrat from Maryland and chairman of the House Oversight Committee, makes an opening statement during a hearing with Wilbur Ross, U.S. commerce secretary, not pictured, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, March 14, 2019. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergPhoto: Andrew Harrer /Bloomberg

2of2FILE - In this May 1, 2018, file photo, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at a news conference in Austin, Texas. Civil rights groups are asking Texas officials to walk back a letter that questioned the citizenship of thousands of voters and prompted President Donald Trump to renew unsubstantiated claims of rampant voter fraud. Paxton told supporters in a fundraising email Monday, Jan. 28, 2019, that many of those people could have become citizens and voted legally. (Nick Wagner/Austin American-Statesman via AP, File)Photo: Nick Wagner, MBO / Associated Press

AUSTIN — The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform is investigating Texas’ botched effort to purge suspected non-citizens from the voter rolls.

“We are disturbed by reports that the secretary of state’s office has taken steps to remove thousands of eligible American voters from the rolls in Texas and that your office received referrals for possible criminal prosecution based on flawed data about Texas voters,” Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat who chairs the committee, wrote Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a letter Thursday.

The committee is requesting a slew of documents from the Texas secretary of state, including any correspondence with Trump administration officials and Paxton’s office. The letter notes the congressional committee has broad power to investigate “any matter” at “any time.”

Since Democrats took control of the House in January, they have flexed their muscles on a number of issues, including what they broadly describe as voter intimidation efforts such as state-imposed voter ID laws and purges. They haven’t had the capacity to call for such investigations over the last eight years, while Republicans in power used their position to raise alarms about suspected voter fraud.

Texas First Assistant Attorney General Jeff Mateer said the office is still reviewing the letter and looks forward “to providing the committee with information that demonstrates our compliance with the law while ensuring free and fair elections.”

The secretary of state’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

In late January, the office announced it had identified nearly 100,000 suspected non-citizens on the state’s voter rolls. Paxton spread the word on Twitter with the proclamation “VOTER FRAUD ALERT.” President Donald Trump also chimed in, wrongly claiming that all 95,000 people on the list were “non-citizens registered to vote.”

Secretary of State David Whitley sent the data to Paxton’s office for possible criminal prosecution of non-citizens who may have voted in past elections.

But within days, county election officials, charged with vetting the list, found tens of thousands of people had been wrongly flagged. After several lawsuits were filed by voting rights groups, a federal judge in February ordered a halt to the effort, saying it created a “mess” that intimidated naturalized citizens.

Top elections official may lose job

The controversy is now threatening Whitley’s political future, with Democrats in the state Senate pledging to block his confirmation. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott nominated Whitley — his former aide — to the post in December, but he still needs Senate approval.

Abbott’s office also did not respond to a request for comment.

The congressional committee calls its investigation one of several into “voter irregularities” during the 2018 midterm election, which drew record turnout in Texas that helped Democrats flip seats in the state House and Senate. At the top of the ticket, Democrat Beto O’Rourke came within three percentage points of unseating Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, an unusually tight margin. No Democrat has won a statewide election here since 1994.

Cummings also opened an investigation into the relocation of the single polling place in Dodge City, Kan., where Latinos make up a majority of the population, to outside city limits. In Georgia, the committee launched an investigation into reported “problems with voter registration, voter access, and other matters.”

Congressional Democrats are sending a “strong signal they want our elections to be free, fair and accessible,” said Myrna Perez, director of the Voting Rights and Elections Project at The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School.

“I think they have gotten the very clear message from what happened in the 2018 elections about what people are wanting,” she said.

Two Texas Republicans, Reps. Chip Roy and Michael Cloud, are on the House Oversight Committee. Roy, who won his first term in 2018 to represent a district that includes part of San Antonio, wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said she is pleased that the Democratic majority in Congress has taken notice of what she called “this dastardly act to challenge American citizens with false accusations.” Jackson Lee took part in a congressional hearing last month in Brownsville in which she recommended an investigation.

“Everybody knows that this issue of voter fraud is a fake news issue. This voter suppression is what’s keeping people from voting,” she said. “I applaud Chairman Cummings because we are getting prepared for this kind of snake oil to be used going forward.”

In federal court this week, plaintiffs in the lawsuit over the Texas purge and representatives of the secretary of state’s office said they have each submitted settlement offers that they will discuss on Monday. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of San Antonio called for an April 29 status conference in his chambers.